EU4Youth closes with joint discussion on impact for young people in the Eastern Partnership

On 29 April, the EU4Youth programme brought together implementing partners, EU institutions, and stakeholders in Brussels to mark the conclusion of the current phase of the European Union’s largest youth programme for the Eastern Partnership (EaP). 

The participants discussed what approaches have proved most effective, and what the future of EU support to youth in the region should look like.

Opening the event, Michael Voegele, Acting Head of Unit C1 at Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST), spoke about the importance of understanding what has worked before shaping the next chapter of EU action for young people in the region. With EU Delegations from across the region participating online, the discussion opened with taking stock of results across the programme’s three pillars: youth employment and entrepreneurship, youth engagement and empowerment, and coordination and policy support. 

EU4Youth implementing partners – the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ, Germany), Central Project Management Agency (CPVA, Lithuania), and Ernst&Young (EY) – presented effective approaches and lessons from their work.

Participants also explored emerging topics that will shape the landscape for young people in the region, including mental health and well-being, the shrinking of civic space, disinformation, and the long-term sustainability of the youth sector.

“EU4Youth has shown that sustained, partnership-driven investment in young people genuinely works,” said Behrooz M. Afshari, Team Leader, EU4Youth Coordination and Policy Support. “Across the Eastern Partnership, we have seen young people move from the margins to the centre of policy dialogue — as entrepreneurs, as civic leaders, as changemakers. The lessons we carry forward are clear: build on what is proven, stay adaptive to the realities young people face, and never underestimate the power of the partnerships EU4Youth has built.” 

He added that the insights gathered at the event would directly inform the next generation of EU engagement with youth in this region.

Launched in 2017 and led by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood, EU4Youth is the EU’s flagship initiative supporting young people in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The EU has invested over €50 million in the programme — through implementing projects, civil society grants, scholarships, and institutional capacity building — in ways designed to embed change at every level, from individual young people to the policies that shape their futures. 

The programme’s reach has been substantial, as well as its impact: nearly 80% of young people who participated in EU4Youth-funded activities reported finding employment following that support, while 70% said the programme had empowered them to get more involved in their communities.

The programme has adapted continuously to the region’s challenging political context, including the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the repression of civil society in several partner countries. In response to the war, the programme repurposed €2 million for youth employment and entrepreneurship projects in Ukraine, aimed at strengthening youth resilience and encouraging active participation in the country’s recovery. 

The results of these efforts are monitored and recorded in annual EU4Youth reports.